Food Banks Refuse Citrus Donations To Stop Psyllid Spread

Arizona food banks are now refusing all drop-off citrus
donations in an effort to assist the State Department of Agriculture in
stopping the spread of a bug that could decimate the state’s citrus trees. Brian Blake with Whitfill Nursery explains
that the Asian Citrus Psyllid is a tiny bug that carries Citrus Greening Disease
that destroys entire groves of trees.

Whitfill says he is confident that quarantine efforts in Western Arizona
and Maricopa County will keep the disease out of Arizona….a disease that Agriculture
Department Director Mark Killian says could be as devastating to citrus as the Bark
Beetle has been to pine trees here. For
folks wanting to donate the fruit from their own trees, both United and Saint Mary’s
food banks have gleaning programs available on-line to safely pick the fruit
under the new restrictions at www.unitedfoodbank.org
and www.firstfoodbank.org
or call
602-343-5648.